Take Care of Yourself, Your Business Will Take Care of Itself


Business, like any engagement, is just an extension of an individual. This implies that the wellbeing of the individual has a direct bearing on the success of his or her business. Having a successful business means you have to be a successful team player. But many entrepreneurs are not able to understand this. This often manifests itself in unhealthy habits that aren’t healthy or productive. But there’s also something to be said for taking time to ensure you’re emotionally and physically cared for. And you have to be self-seeking! Only then can you take care of your business.

How to Take Care of Your Priorities?

Everyone’s needs are different. As a busy entrepreneur who’s grown accustomed to selflessly serving everyone’s needs but your own, here are a handful of things you can focus on:

Watch Your Diet: As busy entrepreneurs, we often get stuck in ruts. We usually stop with easy things which are familiar and comfortable. This is fine. However, it’s not always good. Sometimes, it can be risky.

As a busy entrepreneur one has to ask oneself about not having too much fast food. For instance, you are busy in the office, feel hungry and order a pizza, Chinese food or burger. But it is harmful for your body. It affects your body in the long run, and has side effects, too.

So, it’s not a great idea to simply consume fast food that takes care of your hunger. But you should have adequate amounts of vitamins and nutrients for getting physically healthy and fit.

Alcohol is another problem. Drinking too much alcohol will adversely affect your body, and you become unhealthy. Are you drinking too much alcohol? If yes, then you have to stop it before it gets too late. Getting invites and attending cocktail parties is fine occasionally. But it should not be on a regular basis. Getting addicted to these show side effects soon in your body, and you develop skin problems.

Not only side effects, but you will not get good sleep. Slowly, your memory fades, you forget important things. And you may become sexually dysfunctional. So, it’s best that you limit and avoid these dangerous things.

Are you making time for meals? If you are a busy businesswoman, it’s a challenge cooking for your family and finding time to dine with your family.

Because of your hectic time schedule, you are cooking, walking and serving at the same time. You are multi-tasking. So, you get tired. And this is dangerous. It increases the likelihood of overeating. It puts undue stress on your digestive system.

Your diet is very important to your productivity and health. If you want to stay focused at work, then you need to make time for healthy meals. Packing a lunch is often the best solution to ensuring you eat well.

Get More Sleep: Getting comfortable sleep is also one of the important factors for a businesswoman. Getting quality sleep is necessary, and you have to sleep at the right time.

“Those who don’t sleep enough are less productive at work and school. They take longer to finish tasks, have a slower reaction time, and make more mistakes,” reports the National Institute of Health. “After several nights of losing sleep – even a loss of just one to two hours per night – your ability to function suffers as if you haven’t slept at all for a day or two.”
Like eating healthy, getting sleep can seem like a far-off dream for busy entrepreneurs. It doesn’t have to be, though. By making it a priority, you can get a minimum of six to eight hours of continuous sleep each day. And the consistency is as important as the total amount. Try to fall asleep and wake up at the same time each day. This will aid your body’s circadian rhythm.

Spend Some Time in Reflection: When you’re constantly surrounded by people, you force yourself to be “on” at all times. This can be emotionally draining and, ultimately, leads to mental fatigue. The danger here is that you’ll eventually snap, or say something you’ll regret.

While you can’t necessarily reduce the amount of time you spend around your work colleagues, you can maximize the time you have to yourself. For most people, this time is first thing in the morning or late at night. Use these quiet hours to spend some time in reflection. If you’re a spiritual person, this is a great time to pray. If you like mediating, use this time to practice. However, if you like to disengage from the world around you, ensure you’re doing it for at least a few minutes per day.

Get Regular Physical Activity: Physical fitness is one of those things that we all have on our to-do lists, but rarely get around to doing. Unfortunately, being busy isn’t an excuse for not exercising. Your body doesn’t care if you’re busy with a work project or complicated assignment. Gym or other physical exercise is good for the body.

The question is, how do you make time for regular physical activity? The obvious place to start is with your current obligations. Are there things you are currently doing through the course of the day that aren’t constructive or necessary? This includes watching a show on television or on Netflix, reading the newspaper, or mindlessly browsing your Facebook newsfeed. Try replacing this time with 30 minutes of exercise. It doesn’t matter if it’s a jog around the block or a weight lifting session. Anything that engages your muscles and gets your heart rate up is better than sitting down.

Build Relationships Outside of Work: Finally, you can’t forget about the relational side of things. While it’s great to have close friends at work, you need to find friends and develop relationships outside of the office. This will help you enjoy more and take care of your work-life balance.

Opportunities for meeting people outside of work include joining local sports teams, volunteering with nearby organizations, signing up for a position with your neighbourhood’s homeowners’ association and hosting parent-child get-togethers with your kid’s friends.

Make Time for Yourself: There’s something to be said for putting others first. It’s admirable, selfless, and caring – and these are attributes that will take you a long way in your career. However, we also live in a business world that blows selflessness out of proportion. It’s critical that you pay attention to your own physical and emotional needs. And you won’t start slipping down the corporate ladder just because you adopt a few new habits.

Everyone continues to need positive feedback. With work associates, encourage your subordinates, peers, bosses, and also rivals, competitors, past partners. If you admire someone, tell them. If you think they may not need support from you, you’re likely wrong.

We’ve made great strides in recent years addressing mental health in the workplace and more generally. We need people on the frontlines rescuing the physically afflicted, but the emotional aspect will affect everyone.

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Your diet is very important to your productivity and health. If you want to stay focused at work, then you need to make time for healthy meals.

4 Ways to Take Care of Your Mental Health

How can you shore up your mental health and deepen your own emotional reservoir? Here are some suggestions:

Start with self-care: We can’t share with others a resource that we lack ourselves. The critical starting point is to take our own mental health temperature. How am I doing? What will help me combat anxiety? Am I drinking, eating, or sleeping, or crying too much? What do I need to do to stay connected?

Follow up with a plan: Begin with keeping to your normal routine as much as possible. Schedule regular exercise, which has well-documented mental health benefits. Next, think of ways to be mentally engaged either through work or activities such as crossword or jigsaw puzzles, games, reading or writing. Start a journal or blog. If possible, pursue your hobbies and take care.

Ask for help when you need it: Caregivers, parents, coaches, therapists, and even you need help. We all do right now. Don’t hesitate to seek and ask for it. In many cases, we can find the support we need from partners, parents, children, friends, and others close to us.

Look for the positive and say it aloud: We may usually be a little sparing with praise. Maybe we think that someone who criticizes us is smarter than we are, or that praising others feels like an acknowledgment that we are inferior, so we demur. Express appreciation, give compliments, and call out triumphs, no matter how small. If you see something good, speak up.

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Begin with keeping to your normal routine as much as possible. Schedule regular exercise, which has well-documented mental health benefits.

How This Womenpreneur Creates a Balance in Life?

Prachi Garg is an author, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. She started ghoomophiro.com, an enterprise where the team organizes corporate tours based on the customers’ requirements, budget and provides them a bouquet of options. This initiative was taken up by her during her college days. Recently, Ghoomophiro expanded its portfolio for women who like to travel solo.

She also conducts workshops on entrepreneurship at major B-schools (FMS/IIMs/Miranda House/IMT) and her start-up has been covered by mainstream media and tv channels. She has won the MP tourism board Annual Awards twice. Apart from just being an MBA graduate from Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, she is a distinguished alumna from Delhi’s top women’s college Miranda House, too.

We asked her how she deals with her business and personal life:

Q: How do you keep fit being busy in business.
A: Yoga and meditation help me to stay fit.

Q: Do you think the quote “Take care of yourself, and business will take care on its own” applies to you?
A: Yes, it does! I believe that personal well-being, including mental health, comes first. If you are fit, you will be able to think more creatively with a free mind.

Q: How do you manage the time to relax?
A: Usually I take power naps, plan my day early in the morning, prioritise my worklist. These tips help me to keep moving. Needless to say, “early to bed, early to rise, still holds true to me.

Q: Tell us about ghoomophiro.com
A: At ghoomophiro.com, we promote women’s solo travel. It is an initiative wherein we organize women’s travel both in India and abroad. Our USP is: we ensure women workforce during your journey, in the form of women drivers/track leads.

Q: How much money have you invested?
A: It started all online back 2010 with a mere investment of one lakh of rupees.

Q: What are the five things one will need for success?
A: 1. Passion for doing and Strong Focus;
2. Complete belief in yourself and your idea;
3. Strong Networking;
4. Never Die Attitude; and
5. Right Execution

Q: Any Tips for aspiring women entrepreneurs?
A: The world is yours. Never get tired with small hiccups. Take the chance, because this is one life, and you should not regret anything, because Sky is the limit for your dreams.

Santosh Mehta
Santosh Mehta
Santosh is a business journalist with 20 years of experience. She writes on self improvement, business and health. Her stint includes The Statesman, Hindu Business Line, All India Radio and Australian TV Channel.

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